Hypersonic flutter analysis of functionally graded panels under thermal and aerodynamic loads

In this work, hypersonic aero-thermo post-buckling and thermal flutter behaviors of Functionally Graded (FG) panels under thermal and aerodynamic loads are investigated. The volume fractions of constitutive materials of the panels are gradually varied from ceramic to metal in the thickness direction based on a simple power law distribution. Thus, the material properties of the panel are also changed by a linear rule of mixture. Furthermore, the material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent because the panels are mainly used in the high temperature environments. Using the principle of virtual work, the equations of motion of the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDPT) are derived and the finite element method is applied to get the solution. In the formulation, the von Karman strain-displacement relationship is used for structural nonlinearity, and the partial second-order piston theory is adopted to consider the aerodynamic nonlinearity. Newton-Raphson iterative technique is used to solve the governing equations, and linear eigenvalue analysis is performed to obtain the hypersonic flutter boundaries.